You"ve lived too long. You"re a nuisance: What drunken daughter, 67, told her elderly mother before trying to smother her after row over…

'You've lived too long. You're a nuisance': What drunken daughter, 67, told her elderly mother, 97, before trying to smother her after row over Christmas dinner
Connie Goodman, 97, fought off daughter and pressed emergency alarmJulie Faulkner jailed for five years after admitting attempted murderTold police: 'I promised her when it got too bad I'd put a pillow on her face'Mother has changed her locks and doesn't want to see her daughter again

By
Rob Cooper

PUBLISHED:

11:44 GMT, 5 April 2013

|

UPDATED:

22:52 GMT, 5 April 2013

Jailed: Julie Faulkner, 67, tried to smother her mother with a cushion in a row over Christmas dinner in her sheltered accommodation in Blaby, Leicstershire

The daughter of a frail 97-year-old woman smothered her with a pillow for asking to be cooked Christmas dinner, shouting: 'You've lived too long and you're a nuisance.'

Julie Faulkner, 67, has now been jailed for five years for the assault, which almost cost the life of her mother, Connie Goodman.

Mrs Goodman, who suffers from mobility problems but is mentally alert, managed to call for help by pressing an emergency alarm on her bracelet.

Her daughter later confessed to the attempted murder, telling police: 'You try looking after a 97-year-old who is going out of her brains.'

The attack happened on December 23 last year at Mrs Goodman's sheltered accommodation flat in Blaby, Leicestershire.

Leicester Crown Court heard how an argument had broken out between the pair after Mrs Goodman, a grandmother, asked her daughter whether she would be cooking their Christmas dinner or if a carer would be delivering a meal instead.

Faulkner, who had been drinking brandy, reacted angrily, pulling her mother's favourite cushion from behind her head while she was seated and holding it on her face.

She told her mother she was a 'nuisance' and had 'lived too long' but Mrs Goodman managed to activate her emergency bracelet device, which put a call through to a call handler.

The court heard how the person who answered the phone heard the commotion, with Mrs Goodman managing to wriggle free and shouting that she needed the police.

Faulkner then gave up her fight, telling the handler: 'I put a pillow on her head like she asked me to do. Goodnight.'

When later arrested at home, she told officers: 'I only did what she wanted me to. I promised her when it got too bad I'd put a pillow on her face.'

Dawn Pritchard , prosecuting, said Mrs Goodman was shaken and had suffered a cut to her nose. She has asked for her favourite cushion, the attempted murder weapon, to be returned to her.